 Martin Sorrell |
WPP boss Martin Sorrell has ended his bid to block Bain Capital's $1.3B takeover of Asatsu-DK, Japan's No. 3 ad agency.
The British ad/PR conglom, owner of a nearly 25 percent stake in ADK, had maintained that the private equity firm's offer had undervalued the assets of the Japanese agency.
Bain announced that WPP has now agreed to withdraw legal proceedings against ADK, pending the successful completion of the tender offer.
It would then discuss an investment by WPP as a non-controlling minoring shareholder, according to a report in the Financial Times.
WPP and ADK had a cross shareholder and business alliance for the past two decades.
ADK plans to sell its investment in WPP, which is valued around $550M and scout for opportunities beyond the Japanese market.
Bain's tender offer for ADK closes Dec. 6.
“We now hope ADK’s other shareholders will recognise the attractive valuation and liquidity opportunity presented in our fair and fully priced offer, and tender their shares,” David Gross-Loh, Bain managing director, said in a statement.
Stagwell’s Q4 revenues grew two percent to $807M while adjusted EBITDA rose three percent to $129M.
WPP CEO Cindy Rose unveiled “Elevate 28,” a strategic plan to simplify the troubled company, which reported a 5.4 percent drop in 2025 revenues to $13.6B.
Omnicom CEO John Wren reported a Q4 $977.2M operating loss, largely due to the $1.1B in severance and repositioning expenses connected to the $13B Interpublic takeover that closed on Nov. 26.
Publicis Groupe reports an 8.8 percent rise in 2025 net revenues to $16.4B with
Public Policy Holding Company today priced its initial public offering at $12.25 per share. The sale of 4,150,000 shares raised $50.8M in gross proceeds.
